I need help! What is the most perfectly functioning audio/midi Interface for Linux?

[Linuxmusician01]

How is the sound quality of these Mackie devices? They are so cheap, that I almost worry that they will be like those no-name brands that are available from China. You can't beat the price, but you also get what you pay for. That's my main worry with them.

Isn't Mackie a well respected brand? Shouldn't it be just fine?

BTW, most of the Behringer U-Phoria devices have "Midas" pre-amps. They seem to be very proud of that but I don't know what that means. I found this discussion in which somebody says: "A lot of preamp love/hate/talk is based on the good 'ole analog days when a pre could make or break a mix.". And: "I’d be surprised if you could tell the difference between a Mackie and Midas Heritage pre in a blind test.".

[autostatic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midas_Consoles

Midas has been acquired a while ago by the same company that owns Behringer. Now Behringer can claim they have Midas preamps on board. It's all marketing I guess and for me the quote is spot on, we probably can't hear any difference in a blind test between devices from almost the same price category.

[KatS]

How is the sound quality of these Mackie devices? They are so cheap, that I almost worry that they will be like those no-name brands that are available from China. You can't beat the price, but you also get what you pay for. That's my main worry with them.

Sound quality of the Producer 2.2 is excellent, and it's plug+play on Linux. I used one for a long time, and only replaced it because my partner's computer speakers aged out, which gave me an excuse to upgrade to RME and better monitors.

The price is suspiciously low, yes, but my guess is that it's because there's no more R&D needed for that kind of device. Chances are, they've taken off-the-shelf hardware and firmware, and put it in a roadworthy housing, just making careful choices about what OTS stuff they used.

Speaking of RME: if your budget will allow it: the Babyface Pro FS is fantastic. I expect to replace it if I go pro with music, USB2 gets retired, or it somehow gets physically broken - so basically never

[Linuxmusician01]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midas_Consoles

Midas has been acquired a while ago by the same company that owns Behringer. Now Behringer can claim they have Midas preamps on board. It's all marketing I guess and for me the quote is spot on, we probably can't hear any difference in a blind test between devices from almost the same price category.

Ha ha. No wonder they rave about those Midas pre-amps.

[GuntherT]

The UMC204HD is a good option for a straight-forward and economical device. I have owned a UMC1820 since 2018 and use it daily as my desktop's soundcard, and it is still working as well as the day I bought it. There was a YT video I watched where a guy measured the noise floors of multiple 2 input units and the UMC204HD outperformed some of the more expensive brands.

[RyanH]

How is the sound quality of these Mackie devices? They are so cheap, that I almost worry that they will be like those no-name brands that are available from China. You can't beat the price, but you also get what you pay for. That's my main worry with them.

The Producer 2x2 sounds great to me. If I'm not mistaken it can operate at a 96,000 sample rate, but I only use 48,000.

My only issue - and it might just be because I've used it so much over a couple of years - is that the knobs sometimes have to be wiggled slightly. For example, when I turn the master volume knob, sometimes the left-right balance in the headphones goes off, so I have to give it a little wiggle and then it's fine. I just started noticing this in the last few weeks though, and it wouldn't prevent me from buying another one. It's really solidly built.

[autostatic]

Speaking of RME: if your budget will allow it: the Babyface Pro FS is fantastic. I expect to replace it if I go pro with music, USB2 gets retired, or it somehow gets physically broken - so basically never

Thanks for this info! Are you also using https://github.com/MrBollie/bbfpromix ?

[KatS]

Speaking of RME: if your budget will allow it: the Babyface Pro FS is fantastic. I expect to replace it if I go pro with music, USB2 gets retired, or it somehow gets physically broken - so basically never

Thanks for this info! Are you also using https://github.com/MrBollie/bbfpromix ?

My pleasure!

And yes, I've been using bbfpromix for as long as I've had the Babyface. It works neatly, with one gotcha: you have to manually select the affected pair of outputs from the "Hardware Output" drop-down at the bottom left. Sooner or later you will wonder why the output isn't changing in response to you moving the faders. I've done that more than once.